I'd like to watch some video of the famous earlier greats to see if there is any credence to claims of them being undeniably better than any current quarterback.
Elway in particular, and in my own opinion, has the best personal stats of any seventies, eighties, or nineties quarterback. I think personal stats are most important when considering personal skill, while considering other things like how good their o-lines, defenses, receivers, etc were since all those factors can affect how any quarterback performs.
Not being a huge fan of the more violent "smash mouth" football of yesteryear (the kind of football that shortened probably every player's career before a decade ago) that many older fans (and some younger ones) love and miss, I think that most great QBs in today's league would hold up just fine in the old league, and vice-versa. I don't much care for the argument that quarterbacks now wouldn't last in yesteryear's league. I always retort that with, "Today's linebackers in yesteryear's smash mouth league would cause much more damage than the already damaging amount caused by the linebackers of yore."

Elway was not the best QB of his era. One can argue convincingly about both Marino or Montana, but the others were one step behind.
I have been a Brady supporter as best of today's QBs for a long time, but I'm starting to think Manning might be the best ever. That man is astonishing.

Even being a fins fan I have to give the title to Montana. He has the rings and I think that has to count. I'd agree, at the time Elway was a step behind, but he may have evened things out late in his career. One thing about Elway's stats, in his early career he was the type that would put up HUGE yards in a loss. Of course he also used to have the record for 4th quarter comebacks as well.. But remember, he played longer than his contemporaries too. Don't think he'd be number 1, but top 3 no doubt. Think today comaparing Brees, Brady and Manning. That would be about right.

It's hard to argue about Brady, but Manning is amazing. But as we saw in Indy,if you take Manning out of the mix, the team falls apart. Manning might be the Michael Jordan of the NFL...

Personally I think Young was a little overrated, benefited a lot from a great system in San Fran. But he's got the rings so can't argue much.
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Young was overrated and that's coming from a 9ers fan. I'm not saying Young wasn't a good quarterback but he wasn't the greatest. He just got lucky to be on one of the best teams for those seasons. The 49ers had amazing receivers, running backs, O and D- lines those years. Obviously the coaching just tied all of that together. Ah the golden years. Now Joe Montana....need I say more? It's Joe Montana.

I swear it's been too long since the 9ers have played like the legendary team I used to watch play and they've come so close these past few years. I wish they would just finally get their shit together!!!

I should just ask fantasy football advice here, you guys know a lot. Should i really sit Jordy Nelson against NYG? Don't they kind of suck? Kenny Stills is up against the 49ers and i think they have a good defense. Another option is to play both of them and sit Rueben Randle or Deandre Hopkins instead but they're both more consistent. I'm really scrambling as far as WRs go each week, i didn't do well for them in the draft.

And should i run KC's defense or stick with the Lions, who i picked up last week for KC's bye week?

After the Bengals lose I kind of get all Bleh and don't really pay attention to anything else happening in football.
Is Rodgers still out? If so, and if the back-up is at least half-way decent, I'd say go with Nelson. They'll probably be leaning on him to hobble through Rodgers injury, so he's going to see a lot of throws, and he seems like a guy to be able to come through in the clutch.

That's a really tough one.
You can only play one WR?
As far as the defense goes, I say you're still better off playing Kansas City. I say this for two reasons. 1. The Lions' defense is overall pretty horrendous. 2. Peyton Manning is playing with an ankle sprain.
For your wide receivers, I'd say to play Kenny Stills, or the other two. Let me do a little research on the other two. Definitely don't play Jordy Nelson. It's very, very unlikely that he'll get many throws with a third string quarterback playing for Green Bay. They're almost surely going to rely on the run.

Yeah GB's quarterback can't pass at all. I get three WRs on my team, i just usually play Nelson, Randle, and Hopkins. It's just the Rodgers injury that threw me for a loop right now so i got Stills to fill in.

Okay. So play Stills. I'll be disappointed if you lose points because of me (anything can happen in the NFL) but while the 49ers have a good defense, they've always been the weakest against the pass. Stills is still growing as a receiver, but he's shown that he can make big plays, and Drew Brees notices that stuff. If he's open, Drew will throw it to him. He's one of the best in the league, if not the very best, at finding open receivers. He's not going to be Drew's number one option anytime soon, but I think he's your best bet given the circumstances.

Yeah. I remember i had Stills last year and he did pretty good most of the year. Our league was only half the size it is this year though. This year we have a full 16-team league so if you didn't do well on the draft, you'll have to get lucky with an injury or a sleeper or convince someone to trade you because all of the good players are taken.

Young was overrated and that's coming from a 9ers fan. I'm not saying Young wasn't a good quarterback but he wasn't the greatest. He just got lucky to be on one of the best teams for those seasons. The 49ers had amazing receivers, running backs, O and D- lines those years. Obviously the coaching just tied all of that together. Ah the golden years. Now Joe Montana....need I say more? It's Joe Montana.

I swear it's been too long since the 9ers have played like the legendary team I used to watch play and they've come so close these past few years. I wish they would just finally get their shit together!!!

I'm gonna ask Santa for them to win the superbowl this year(2014).

It is really nice to see them back at the top. The old teams were some of the best in the league history so it's easy to root for the new guys...I don't know if Harbaugh is Walsh reincarnate, but such an amazing turnaround. Fun to watch.

Not sure if anyone outside of Florida saw last nights game. If you committed time to that, I on behalf of the MIami Dolphins suffering fans do apologize. I had thought the Bucs were due for a win. So glad my Fins could help their self esteem. Sigghhhh...

Could keep the same color scheme and they could put some menacing look on Ariel's face on the helmet. Then Ariel falls in love with Tom Brady during a playoff game...Oh wait, that would mean the former dolphins made it to the playoffs...Yeah, that's not likely...

I personally want to see the Dolphins do well. I was happy for the 49ers returning to glory as well, until they starting knocking the Saints out of the playoffs. I'm sort of an underdog person, which is why I'm a Saints fan in the first place. It's really great to see the kind of turn around they've made since '05.

I was never a Saints fan per se, but did love that turnaround. And against the backdrop of Katrina was pretty awesome. I liked Sean Payton a lot and what he did, though bounty gate sort of soured me a little. I know, all teams probably do it, but just sort of tarnished the image some.

I think one of the appeals of the NFL is watching the rise and fall of the dynasties. And the underdog stories that come up every year. Seeing San Fran heading back to greatness is pretty awesome, and seeing the Bengals occasional rise from the depths is always fun too.

For my Fins, man been a long, long trip through the desert. Going from being a play off lock and contender every year to where we've been in the last decade is painful. And watching some of these recent debacles, despite maybe having the most solid roster in a decade...uggghhhh....Well, there's always 72 to remember. And 2008's wildcat run was fun. I've considered co-opting the gf's team, though she doesn't really have one, it's more her moms, but emotionally vesting in the Cowboys is probably not good for ones blood pressure either.

Oh well, I'll pick some new favorites come playoff time and use very objective criteria, like my fondness for their logo to decide who to root for. I'll still be a fins fan of course, just a sullen disappointed one waiting desperately to see how the draft and free agency picks work out. Oh, and possibly what the new coaches will look like.

I don't think so. I just saw that this week as a matter of fact. I don't think we've had any creativity on defense since...hmmmm...dawn of time perhaps? I'd be using that amoeba on Peyton and Brady a lot since they are so freaking good at reading coverage at the line. Take that first read from them and should completely throw them off their game.

NFL football is the sport I have followed with the most regularity, but the concussion situation is so critical, I can't support that with the same interest anymore.
On the other hand I admire how smart some coaches and players can be (Bill Belichick for example).

That's mostly what I enjoy about it as well. I love the athleticism involved along with the complexity of it. It's the same reason I love MMA. I think the NFL is taking concussions a lot more seriously after the recent litigation. If they don't, it's a bad business move, which is clearly all they care about. But if it amounts to longer careers and less long-term effects, then I'm all for it.

I don't think they can address the concussion and injury problems without some serious changes in the tackling rules. Also blocking and the nature of body protection. It might change the game radically.

We are already seeing more injuries this year, probably a combination of the shortened practice schedules and the fact that defenders are going lower to avoid fines. I think the tackling will get radically changed within a decade because of the lawsuits and injuries.

If they add the extra two games, they will kill two preseason games. That's needed because they charge full price for those tickets, all so you can watch some guys play who will be working for UPS in a month.

There is also some talk about bumping up the 47 active players per game. More bodies to substitute might mean less wear and tear. But of course you're going to want your studs on the field as much as possible.

They haven't. What worries me about it is that our defense is weakest against the run. 49ers have both the option QB and Frank Gore. The past two times we've played them, they've eaten us up because of it.
But, we're much better at defending against the pass than we were last year, and the year before, respectively.
It will undoubtedly be a different game than SF's loss to the Panthers last week. I'm guessing scores in the high twenties or low thirties, and likely a last seconds of the game heart-attack ending.

Yeah, definitely.
If you would've told me a couple of months ago that both the Saints and Panthers would be in the top five in points allowed mid-way through the season, I'd have laughed my ass off.
With them nipping at our heels in the division, I'd be very pleased to see another Saints win and a Panthers loss. (They're playing the Pats)
A man can dream. Hehe

Pats are due for some upsets, and they should also have some trouble with Newton, but I have a tough time believing the Panthers are at a point where they can sustain it against a team that just usually doesn't know how to lose. But, any Patriots loss is a good thing....

I keep seeing people online saying that Kansas City DEF will suck until the end of the season and nobody expects them to do well but nobody expected them to do well in the first place. They were still available in my league well after the draft. They've beat everyone's expectations all season and it'll stay that way even with some more difficult teams coming up. They're undefeated for a reason, it's not just a fluke.

I like this ^ Stooge cat. I expect our KC defense to continue doing well. People are always complaining about our offensive production, and I agree it's not ideal, but when the other team can't score on you, you don't have to be much better. Same thing with the Broncos this weekend. If Denver's receivers can't come down with those receptions, they'll struggle to score. My concern is if they focus on running the ball, because I think they could carve us up with such a plan if they stuck to it, but I like our odds through the air. I think our defense will handle their offense and theirs will handle ours in a lower-scoring game than they're used to. 24-20 Broncos, with the roles reversed two weeks later.

I'm thinking even less scoring than that, Furleyguy.
Kansas City's defense is the sole reason they're 10-0 and not 4-6. I think that Peyton's ankle is more of a problem than they're making it out to be, and no team is better at rushing the passer. I see a long day for Denver. They may run decent, but without some key first downs in the passing game, and the high scoring offense (which is almost solely Peyton Manning's doing, especially this season) they don't stand a chance against most teams, in my opinion. Where I originally thought them to sweep the Chiefs, I'm thinking they might split games, and that's even depending on how Peyton looks in the coming weeks. I like their chances Sunday.

Why do I enjoy football talk? I hardly ever watch football anymore but I love talking about it and I love this thread. That is all. I had way much more to say but I have to leave now. But I had to at least show my appreciation for this thread.

Sports in general are one of those things you can just sort of join any conversation about if you have thoughts on the subject. I pretty much only follow football, but I see it in a lot of baseball cities especially. It's just a really easy common language or something like that.

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